If you have searched for free Disney paint by number printables, you will have found plenty of them. This explains what they actually are, why we do not host or link to any, and what you can do instead that will give you a better painting anyway.
printables against canvas kits compares the two properly, including what the free files leave you to buy.
what printables can and cannot do covers the same ground for any subject, not only this one.
The Short Version
Disney's characters and films are protected by copyright, and the park castles are also registered trademarks. A downloadable outline of Elsa or Woody, made and distributed by somebody other than Disney, is an unlicensed derivative work. That is true whether it is free, whether it credits Disney, and whether it is on a craft blog or a pin board.
For a private household this mostly stays theoretical. Nobody is coming after a parent who printed a sheet for a rainy afternoon. It stops being theoretical the moment money or an audience is involved:
- You cannot sell the finished painting. Not on any online marketplace, not at a craft fair, not to a friend.
- You cannot use it commercially, including in anything promoting a business, a class or a fundraiser.
- A business cannot host or share the files, which is why this article contains no download links. We would be distributing somebody else's characters to sell our own products, and that is not a thing a legitimate company does.
We also do not make Disney kits, and nobody does without a license. If you see a paint by numbers kit for sale with Disney characters on it and no licensing credit anywhere, that is a good sign to keep your card in your pocket.
What You Can Legally Paint
Quite a lot, as it turns out, and the results are more personal than a character outline.
Your own photographs from the parks
This is the real answer. A photograph you took is yours. Painting from your own photo of a trip is legitimate for personal use, and it is a far better keepsake than a printable of a character.
The one caution: the castles and the character costumes in your photo remain Disney's. A painting of your family in front of a castle is fine to hang on your own wall and give to your mother. It is not something to sell, list or reproduce commercially, and no amount of hand-painting changes that.
The same applies to the castle specifically, and what to know about Disney castle kits covers where the licensed versions actually come from.
Generic castles, fairytale scenes and landscapes
Castles as a subject are not owned by anybody. Neither are forests, carousels, hot air balloons or fireworks. If what you actually want is the feeling rather than the specific character, there is a large legitimate world of it.
Public domain fairy tales
The stories behind many Disney films are centuries old and in the public domain. Snow White, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid as tales are free to anyone. It is Disney's particular drawings of them that are not. Older illustrated editions of those stories, by artists who died more than seventy years ago, are also in the public domain and make lovely painting references.
Turning a Vacation Photo Into a Kit
We turn photographs into numbered kits, printed in the USA, in 12x16, 16x20 and 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. Park photos are a genuinely common request, and a few things decide whether one works.
- Pick the people, not the scenery. A photo where your family fills the frame converts far better than one where they are small in front of a large building. Faces need room.
- Go up a size for more than two faces. 18x24 if there are three or four of you. Fine detail becomes flat shape at smaller sizes, and faces are where that shows.
- Avoid the fireworks shots. Night photos are mostly dark, which means very little visible progress for hours and printed numbers that are hardest to read exactly where the paint is darkest.
- Even light beats dramatic light. Overcast or early morning. Harsh midday sun blows out faces and leaves black shadows, and neither contains anything to paint.
- Send the original file. Not a screenshot and not a social media download, both of which have been compressed and are softer than they look.
You can start one on the custom paint by numbers page, and our guide to choosing a photo covers what converts well in more detail.
If You Are Painting With Children
Worth being clear: we make kits for adults. Our designs are licensed landscape and wildlife artwork on canvas, and the sections are small enough that a young child will find them frustrating rather than fun.
For children, a paper coloring sheet and a set of washable paints is a better afternoon than a canvas, and it costs a great deal less. Plenty of museums and public archives publish free coloring pages from their own collections, which are properly licensed and often beautiful.
Painting a Castle Well
If a castle is the subject, whether it is one you photographed or one from a stock design, three things make the difference.
Get the sky finished first, all of it. A castle is a complicated silhouette, and cutting a sky in around finished turrets is miserable. Paint the sky over the whole upper canvas and come back over it.
Work dark to light on the stonework. Shadowed walls first, sunlit faces last. Light acrylic covers dark acrylic much more easily than the reverse.
Save the windows and the trim until everything is dry. They are the smallest sections, they carry all the character, and they are the ones you will smudge if you get to them while the wall behind is still tacky. Fine brush, good lamp, and stop before your eyes go.
Our beginner's guide covers the general working order, and the catalog has our own designs if you would rather paint something already drawn.
